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Proposal to Increase Early Dismissals

Dear ISB Community,

We are writing to let you know that we will be postponing our plans to increase early dismissals for the next school year.

We recognize that the timing of this proposal is not optimal given the late stage of the school year and the pandemic. We also understand that there are some community concerns to address.

The Leadership Team believes that increased time for teachers and teams of teachers to focus on improving learning will have a positive impact. We will continue to research ways to best achieve this going forward.

Providing additional time for teacher collaboration is a WASC recommendation for ISB while the research is clear on the correlation between collaborative time for teachers and improved learning outcomes for students.

We will engage our community next year in further conversations and will arrange a variety of forums for discussion and feedback.

We thank you very much for the time you have taken to provide feedback through surveys and webinars.

Kind regards.

Andy

Dr. Andrew Davies
Head of School

Happy Songkran 

by Dennis Harter, MS Principal
dennish@isb.ac.th

As our community heads off for the Songkran holiday, on behalf of the MS Faculty and Staff, we wish you all a safe and restful holiday. We are incredibly grateful to the country of Thailand and the people of our community that we have had a successful school year and semester so far. Despite having started this term with 3 weeks of Virtual School and another 3 days heading into the holiday, our school has been incredibly fortunate to have had so much time on campus, with students engaged in classroom learning, activities, and athletics. Just a few weeks ago, our students were in robotics activities, track meets, baseball and softball games, and dance and drama classes. Students around the world have not been so fortunate.

Of course, we are keeping a close eye on the recent developments in Thailand. While we continue to plan to open on April 19th (Day 3), we will consider any new information that arises during the break and communicate a decision before then. Should we need to go into Virtual School, we will let families know as early as we can and provide information about schedule changes, as necessary.

Parents may also have questions about the upcoming MS Class Trips scheduled for early May. Of course, these are also being looked at in relation to ongoing developments. We will get the advice of government and medical agencies to determine next steps. While we highly value these experiences, safety will always be prioritized.

In the meantime, we hope our MS community has a wonderful break shared with friends and loved ones. Rest, read, exercise, and enjoy time together. Happy Songkran to all in our community and to our wonderful host nation, Thailand!

Teacher feedback comments available following Songkran 

Follow up from our Student-Led Conferences a few weeks ago, teachers are currently preparing formative feedback comments about each student, including areas of strengths and areas to focus on for the remainder of the semester. 

These comments will be available to parents in PowerSchool on Monday, April 19th, immediately following the Songkran break. That week, students will also have time in Advisory to read through their teacher feedback and reflect on goals for the remainder of the term.

Upcoming Parent Session on Drugs and Alcohol in Bangkok 

In conjunction with the High School Counseling office, we are pleased to be able to host an evening parent session regarding Drugs and Alcohol in Bangkok. While this is not a prevalent issue in the middle school years, parents may wish to learn more about these issues as (or before) their children head into their teen years and high school.

You are invited to attend an evening session with John Schachnovsky, a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent with 25 years of federal law enforcement experience. Previously, John served in Thailand as the head FBI representative to the governments of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.

Since his retirement, John has worked as a security and law enforcement consultant for numerous multinational companies and has spoken to students and parents at international schools across Asia.

ISB high school students were able to meet with John earlier this school year and found their time with him to be helpful and informative.

On Wednesday, April 21 from 6:30-8pm in the MPB 1 and 2, John will speak with ISB parents about “Drugs and Alcohol in Bangkok and Your Child.” There will be a significant portion of the time together that evening dedicated to your questions.

For all parents that are interested in attending, we ask that you RSVP at this link to allow us to plan for numbers of parents attending.

In the event of a shift to Virtual School after Songkran, the event will be hosted on Zoom and a link will be sent out to those who’ve signed up.

ISB Summer School 2021 – Registration is now open!